Bizman kidnaps former partner over dues worth ₹30 L; arrested

The trader and his accomplices were traced to Pune’s Kondhwa area via the vehicle in which they took the artisan there, and they have been arrested and brought to Mumbai

MUMBAI: A 30-year-old man working at a silver artifacts unit, who was kidnapped from Chira Bazaar in south Mumbai on Saturday night, was rescued by the LT Marg police from Pune on Sunday evening. Police said the man was kidnapped by a garment trader whom he had allegedly duped of ₹30 lakh. The trader and his accomplices were traced to Pune’s Kondhwa area via the vehicle in which they took the artisan there, and they have been arrested and brought to Mumbai.

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According to the LT Marg police, the artisan, Hemant Kumar Rawal, 30, was partying in Chira Bazaar on Sunday night with his colleague at the silver artifacts factory in Bhayandar, Kartik Singh Rathore. At around 2am, he was kidnapped by three men and taken away to an unidentified location in a car.

“After Rathore intimated us about the kidnapping, we immediately registered a case under section 140 (kidnapping or abducting in order to murder or for ransom) and 115 (voluntarily causing hurt) of the Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, and various sections of the Mumbai Police Act,” said Mohit Garg, deputy commissioner of police (zone 2).

Several teams were formed to trace the accused after this. The police scanned CCTV footage of the area from where he was kidnapped and got the number of the vehicle, after which they traced its owner. A team headed by senior police inspector Dnyaneshwar Wagh from LT Marg police station found that the vehicle was with Kapuraram Ghachi, 30, Prakash Pawar, 30 and Ganesh Patra, 37, all residents of Kondhwa in Pune.

“We traced the vehicle to Kondhwa using CCTV footage and mobile details and picked up all three accused as well as the victim from the location and brought them to Mumbai. We are finding more about the three accused involved in the crime,” said Wagh.

The police said that during interrogation, Ghachi, a garment trader, claimed that he used to purchase garments from Rawal when he worked as a garment broker based in Ahmedabad.

“During the said time, Ghachi said he had had paid Rawal ₹30 lakh, for which he neither provided any supplies, nor repaid the money. He also claimed that Rawal had given him some cheques which were dishonoured, and he had registered a case against him under section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act,” said a police officer.

All three accused were produced in court on Monday and remanded in police custody till July 25.